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Alan Carr is lining James Corden up to replace Gary Barlow on The X Factor next year.

Carr is desperate for The Wrong Mans star to sign-up to the ITV juggernaut after he revealed his secret boyband expertise on tonight’s episode of Chatty Man.

Bitching about the current series of The X Factor, Corden begins: ‘I’m not a fan of this flash vote bullshit – stop messing around with it! I love deadlock, what you doing?

‘Mind you, none of them really used it did they?’ replies Alan.

‘No, “I abstain”,’ Corden mimicks. ‘Shut up, just vote!’

Dad-of-one Corden – who also happened to mastermind One Direction’s Best Song Ever music video – suggests they’d do a better job on the panel, and bagsies the Groups.

‘Well Gary’s leaving next year… I think you’d be good,’ says Carr.

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‘I can’t imagine that I’d be particularly qualified to do such a thing,’ Corden replies.

Probing into his boyband past, the chat show host teases: ‘Well I read that you’ve cracked the formula for a boy band…’

‘I used to be in a boy band at school,’ replies Corden. ‘When we first formed but never did anything – we just walked around school going, “Yeah, we’re a boy band,” and it never went any further than that – we were called Full Frontal, and then we changed our name and were called Insatiable.

‘I was the fat one who writes the songs. If you looked like I looked at school, you’ve really got to justify yourself for a place in that band.’

Corden was in a boyband at school (Picture: Channel 4)

Quizzed on his ideal boyband line-up, Corden lists Gary Barlow, Harry Styles, Justin Timberlake, New Kids On The Block’s Jordan Knight and Shane Filan from Westlife as his dream team.

And it looks as though bookies are taking Corden as a serious contender for the empty space on The X Factor panel, with Paddy Power slashing his odds from 25/1 to 4/1.

A Paddy Power spokesperson said: ‘At 4/1 James could be the Corden Bleu that X Factor requires to wrestle top spot back from Strictly Come Dancing’.